Priests Should Remain Celibate

April 20, 1993|The Morning Call

To the Editor:

Sylvia Lawler's April 14 column about "Street Stories" (CBS) and Deborah Norville dealt with Norville's assignment to a segment on celibacy and the Catholic priesthood. She claimed "there seems to be a growing movement within the Catholic Church for optional celibacy -- many of the people we've spoken to feel optional celibacy is something the church will have to embrace if it is to continue to have its life-blood, priests."

Surveys indicate that 50 percent of American Catholics do not attend mass. Therefore, she should have followed her questioning with "would you be willing to contribute more to the church you attend for the support of priests' wives and children as well as separate living quarters?" Most of them would have, I'm sure, recanted their approval or admit they aren't frequent church-goers.

Unlike non-Catholic churches, many Catholic churches have more than one priest. It would be unconscionable to expect church members to "pick up the tab" for not only every priest's salary, but also expenses for additional family members. And monthly rent or mortgage payments for private housing for those who otherwise would live under one roof?

If mandatory celibacy were abolished seminaries would be overcrowded immediately. Who wouldn't jump at the opportunity of having not only guaranteed income and housing, but also everything for the entire family from ordination until death? True vocations? No!

Marriage for priests would lead to rebellion by Catholics who in due time would refuse to offer a blank check to every priest. Chancery offices everywhere would be deluged with requests for middle-aged celibate priests who were dedicated to the purposes for which they were ordained, i.e., to be "the ministers of God's Word, of the Sacraments and the Eucharist, and the leaders of the People of God." (Introduction to the Vatican Document on Priests, No. 2).